Honda Taking Early Orders For RC213V-S Superbike

In a move that should surprise no one, Honda has begun taking early orders for its controversial RC213V-S superbike at a confirmed price of €200,000 in the UK.

A quick visit to the bike’s dedicated microsite shows a message from Honda, indicating that anybody interested in purchasing the bike must fill out a form to become eligible for first dibs on the road-going version of its MotoGP machine. The company’s taking orders until September 30, 2015, giving prospective owners enough time to seriously consider whether spending that much money on a bike with less power than a Honda Fireblade is worth all the trouble.

It’s not unprecedented for a company to offer pre-orders for a product, especially if said product is generating enormous interest from the market. In some ways, the RC213V-s fits that criteria, although I’m not certain if that’s a good thing or a bad thing for the supposed superbike.

The highly anticipated machine generated a lot of shaky buzz when it was revealed that it only had 159 horsepower in the UK and Europe. To be fair, a sports kit could bump the output to as much as 219 horsepower. More startingly, the US market will only get 101 horsepower out of the same bike and because of EPA regulations, the aforementioned sports kit will not available in the US.

Honda also took a curious approach of charging UK customers in Euros because in its own words, it would help the company “deal with fluctuations in the market making the bike more expensive in certain markets at certain times”.

Should you be interested in buying the RC213V-S, you’re required to fill out the aforementioned form, although that still won’t guarantee you the bike. There’s still a lot of hoops and holes to go through, including a consultation with Honda and various other procedures that will determine whether an owner is fit to own the bike.

One final thing: Honda’s early order for the superbike only applies to the US, Europe, Japan, and Australia markets. Should you come from a market under the “others” category, Honda has made it clear that you can only ride the bike in closed courses. Oh, the bike also won’t have any warrant and all expenses incurred by its maintenance, including transportation fees, will be shouldered by the prospective owner.

In other words, purchasing the Honda RC213V-S is beginning to look more and more like a hassle than anything else. It’s a lot less powerful than we all thought and has a price tag that would put even some of today’s supercars to shame.

That’s not exactly the kind of bike you’d think is worth all the trouble.

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Why it matters

Am I the only one who thinks that buying the Honda RC213V-S isn’t worth all the trouble? Granted, I understand if a lot of people still take up Honda’s offer and buy the bike. All of its issues notwithstanding, the RC213V-S is still a technological marvel.

It’s just that I think that we were sold a bag of goods when the bike was promised to be everything and then some, only for it to be a lot less than what we expected, or at least I expected.

I’ve made it clear before. I didn’t think the RC213V-S would only have 159 horsepower. The optional sports kit is a huge plus, but it’s also pretty expensive, especially when you consider that the superbike’s price is already through the roof.

Then it was reported that the US-spec model would only receive 101 horsepower and because of the aforementioned EPA regulations, US customers won’t be able to get their hands on the sports kit. As if that’s not bad enough, information on the bike’s Japanese website revealed that RC213V-s models in Japan would only get 70 horsepower.

There’s just a lot about the bike that’s really not what we all thought it was going to be. Combine that with the exorbitant price tags and I’m wondering why it’s even a serious thought for people to buy the RC213V-S when there are plenty of other models in the market that offer more power for a fraction of the price.